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Water-induced ultralong room temperature phosphorescence by constructing hydrogen-bonded networks

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Abstract

Room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials show potential applications in information security and optoelectronic devices, but it is still a challenge to achieve RTP in organic materials under water ambient due to the unstable property of triplet states. Herein, water-induced RTP has been demonstrated in the organic microrod (OMR). Noting that the RTP intensity of the as-prepared OMR is greatly enhanced when water is introduced, and the reason for the enhancement can be attributed to the formation of hydrogen-bonded networks inside the OMR. The hydrogen-bonded networks can confine the molecular motion effectively, leading to the stability of triplet states; thus the lifetime of the OMR can reach 1.64 s after introducing water. By virtue of the long lifetime of the OMR in the presence of water, multilevel data encryption based on the OMR has been demonstrated.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11904326, 21601159, 61604132, and 51602288), the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (No. 61425021), and Key Science and Technology Project of Henan Province (No. 171100210600).

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  1. Ya-Chuan Liang and Yuan Shang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Henan Key Laboratory of Diamond Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, School of Physics and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, China

    Ya-Chuan Liang, Kai-Kai Liu, Wen-Jie Wu, Qian Liu, Qi Zhao, Xue-Ying Wu, Lin Dong & Chong-Xin Shan

  2. Super Computer Center, Smart City Institute, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 4500052, China

    Yuan Shang

  3. The college of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 4500052, China

    Zhen Liu

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  1. Ya-Chuan Liang
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Correspondence to Kai-Kai Liu or Chong-Xin Shan.

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Liang, YC., Shang, Y., Liu, KK. et al. Water-induced ultralong room temperature phosphorescence by constructing hydrogen-bonded networks. Nano Res. 13, 875–881 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2710-3

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